Is Bill O'Reilly really the second most powerful person in the country?

September 26, 2011|By Gary Stein, Sun Sentinel Editorial Board

One thing is for certain: Bill O'Reilly's ego is second to none.

The Fox News talking head – and we do mean TALKING – claims in Newsweek that he is the second most powerful person in the country. Hard to believe O'Reilly thinks anybody is more powerful than he is, but he admits President Obama has more power.

"I have more power than anybody other than the president,” O'Reilly blathered, “in the sense that I can get things changed quickly."

Interesting.

Yes, O'Reilly probably can get things changed, since the robotic minds that listen to Fox will do anything that their hosts tell them to do.

But second most powerful in the country?

All I know is that when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke burps the wrong way, the stock market can drop hundreds of points and billions of dollars can be lost. Same with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Of course, neither Bernanke nor Geithner appears to have an ego close to O'Reilly's. The man is indeed second to none.